


Stay and Listen

by StarlightAfterAStorm



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: College AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-06 22:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3151187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightAfterAStorm/pseuds/StarlightAfterAStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"College finals- as Veronica is discovering- are a bitch."<br/>Or<br/>Apparently Logan Doesn't Know How to Make Popcorn</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay and Listen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nevertothethird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevertothethird/gifts).



> Hi! I'm so sorry for the lateness but I hope you enjoy it. :) The prompt was "It’s 3am, in the dead of winter, some motherfucker pulled/set off the fire alarm and I am being very vocal about how I’m gonna make that fucker pay."

 

College finals- as Veronica is discovering- are a bitch. 

She never should have let Cammi talk her into going to that party. She got absolutely no work done and now she has a 10 page paper due at 8 in the morning. Which leaves her with… oh, about 5 hours to finish 2 more pages. It’s not terrible, but the words just won’t come. 

Veronica stares angrily at her laptop, trying to will the rest of her paper into existence. As another 10 minutes pass and no more words have magically appeared, Veronica pushes her laptop away in disgust. 

Shower? When was the last time she took a shower?

Veronica grabs a lock of her hair, sniffing gingerly. 

Ugh. Too long. 

So shower time it is then. Maybe after she washes away the funk of the party she’ll finally be able to focus enough on her paper to just get it done. 

Veronica has a head full of sudsy hair when she hears a high-pitched beeping noise coming from the hallway.  

“NO. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Please don’t do this to me right now.”

Rinsing her hair as quickly as she can and wrapping herself in her towel, Veronica figures she can run to her room real quick and change before being herded outside to the “fire safety area”. 

“There better be an actual fire or I will kill someone. Who sets off the fire alarm at 3 in the morning?”

Sticking her head out of the shower room, Veronica can see that the hallway is already hazy with a thick cloud of acrid smelling smoke.

“Oh, shit. There actually is a fire.”

Around her are other students blearily poking their heads out of their own doors and panicking as they realize that the fire alarm is not a drill.  Veronica quickly sprints down the hallway to her room, intent on grabbing some sort of clothing before heading outside. 

“Hey, Veronica! We’ve got to get out now!”

Anna, the RA, runs over, trying to herd Veronica outside as quickly as possible. 

“Anna, I need to grab pants at least! If the fire is such an emergency, go bang on people’s doors to make sure they’re all awake.”

Anna’s face pinches in irritation before she walks away. Veronica can hear her pounding on other people’s doors and calling out “Fire! Everybody outside now!”

Veronica sighs to herself before yanking on sweats, a shirt, and a sweater. Anna comes and bangs on her door. 

“Veronica! Out. Now!” 

“Ok!”

She quickly grabs her keys, her phone, and her wallet before following Anna outside where the other 50 or so kids in her dorm are miserably huddled by the big oak tree. Veronica shivers as the frigid air meets her wet hair and she tries to hunch herself into her sweater as much as possible. 

Cammi looks as blearily out of it as Veronica feels, but at least she had enough foresight to drag her blanket out with her. She holds an arm open in order for Veronica to sneak in and cuddle with her as they sit on one of the tree’s roots. 

“Who the fuck pulled the fire alarm at 3 in the morning?!?” 

“Apparently there’s an actual fire. And technically it’s closer to 3:30 or 4 at this point.” 

“What, really?”

“Didn’t you see the smoke when you were coming out?”

“I thought that was just my eyes being unfocused from lack of sleep. So, did you finish your paper?”

Veronica cringes and her eyes widen in horror.

“Fuuuck.”

Her laptop, including her unfinished paper, is still sitting on her desk. Veronica looks up at the building and finds the window to her room. She can just barely make out the shadow of the laptop in the light of the window, mocking her. She drops her head into her hands, half-screaming her frustration.

“That’s ok, hon. When’s it due?”

“8. Today.”

“Well how much do you have left?”

“2 pages.”

“That’s not so bad. If the fire department gets here quick you’ll still have, like, 3 or 4-ish hours?”

Cammi and Veronica both know the fire department won’t get there soon. When the dorm had had their fire drill at the beginning of the year, the fire department had taken over 2 hours to get there despite the fire station being only 2 blocks away. 

“C’mon Mars. This is a real fire though, right? They’ve gotta get here soon.”

Veronica’s head snaps up. She’s pissed.

“No they won’t, Cammi. You and I both know they won’t. Jeff the RF already put out the fire,” Veronica motions to where Jeff is coming out of the doors, a fire extinguisher in his hand, “Which means that the stupid fire department won’t consider it an emergency.”

“What happened anyway?”

“I don’t know. I saw the smoke coming from the kitchenette so somebody must have burned something in there. Who the hell cooks at 3 in the morning during finals week?”

“I know, right?”

“Cammi, I’ve been up for over 24 hours, I’ve got a paper due at 8, and I am fucking freezing. When I find the jackass who started the fire, they’re going to meet the business end of my taser.”

“Veronica, c’mon. Be serious.”

“I _am_ fucking serious, Cammi. Whoever did this is dead. I am going to destroy them. And they won’t even see it coming.”

“You’re pretty scary for a little blonde pixie, y’know that?”

Veronica looks up to see the towering figure that the new voice apparently belongs to.

Logan Echolls. 

The son of two movie stars and one of the school’s biggest party boys. She’s heard of him before but they haven’t been officially introduced yet. 

Leaning against the oak tree, not even looking like the cold is bothering him, he looks every bit the millionaire (billionaire?) brat he was raised to be. 

“People often underestimate me because I’m a ‘blonde pixie’. I like to use that to my advantage. Can I help you?”

The corner of his mouth quirks a little before he breaks out into a large grin. 

“Yeah, hi. Logan Echolls. I’m the jackass you’re looking for. Figured I’d turn myself in before you had any more time to stew in your anger. It was starting to sound a little ominous there.”

Veronica’s politely confused face morphs into a storm cloud of anger.

“ _You_ started the fire? What the hell?”

To his credit, Logan does manage to look a little sheepish. He runs a hand through his hair, softening his grin into a more apologetic smile.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. I was making some popcorn and I walked away. Must have left it in for too long.”

Veronica presses her hands to her temples. 

“Let me get this straight. You set a fire in the kitchen, making _popcorn_?”

“Yeah. I meant to press 3 minutes. I must have pressed, like, 30. Or something.”

“You know there’s a popcorn _button_ on the microwave right? And who walks away from popcorn and just forgets about it?”

“Hey! It’s finals week for me too! I put it in the microwave and went back to the study room and just kind of… forgot about it.”

“There are instructions on the back of it.”

Cammi, who had been following the conversation with amusement, pipes up now. Veronica points to Cammi, nodding her head at the comment before continuing. 

“Simple instructions. Idiot-proof ones. Though, I guess not really.”

Veronica gestures to Logan. He opens his mouth on a gasp and puts a hand to his heart. 

“Ouch. Really, that hurts. It could have happened to anybody. Do you know how rude it is to insult someone before you’re even properly introduced? For the record, I’m-“

“Logan Echolls. You said that already.”

“I’m Cammi, by the way.”

“Veronica.”

Logan sits in front of them on the damp grass.

“Verrrrr-on-i-ca…? No last name?”

“Nope. Just Veronica.”

“So, taking a leaf out of Madonna’s book? Cool.”

Cammi nudges Veronica lightly.

“Y’know he always could just look at the sign on your door with your last name.”

“Not if I take the sign down. Then he’d never know.”

Logan gives her a sharp smile at the challenge. Veronica raises a brow in return. 

“Whatever, Mars.”

“Cammi!”

Cammi clamps a hand over her mouth. 

“Oopsie. Is that Jake calling me over there? I think it is.”

Cammi slips out the blanket to skip over to her “not-boyfriend”. Veronica rolls her eyes at Cammi’s big mouth. 

“Veronica Mars. I like it. It suits you.”

Veronica refocuses on Logan.

“It should. It’s the only name I have.”

“I can’t imagine it’s very common. Any relation to Keith Mars?"

Veronica’s jaw clenches and she looks off to the side. She hesitates before answering.

“Yeah. He’s my dad.”

“Really?”

“Yup. I spent all my summers in Neptune growing up.”

“No you didn’t.” Logan shakes his head. “You can’t have.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, if you’d been walking around Neptune every summer with Sheriff

Mars, I would have noticed you. And I definitely would have  remembered you.”

Veronica laughs at that.

“We have met before, I mean really quickly, so your statement is completely false.”

“When?”

“I was playing soccer with my dog in the park. I think I was about 12 or so? You and Duncan Kane were flying an airplane? Or something. The ball rolled over to you guys and I asked you to kick it back. You played keep away with it for a couple minutes because I wouldn’t tell you my name. I kicked you in the leg and ran away with it.”

Logan throws his head back with laughter. 

“I remember that! You were all mud splattered and I thought you were cute with your knee socks. You were really working them.”

“That was my uniform!”

“Whatever. You were totally working them. And see? I do remember that. I would have remembered it was you if you had bothered to give me your name back then instead of bruising my shin.”

Veronica scoffs a little at that. He’s about to reply when she hears the wail of sirens coming closer. Past Logan’s head, Veronica sees the flashing light of the fire truck coming around the corner.

“Finally! What time is it?”

Logan looks down at his watch.

“4:22”

“Great. Just about 3 and a half hours to get my paper done.”

“How much more do you have?”

“2 pages. But also the bibliography, which is always a bitch to get done.”

She glares balefully at Logan, remembering that it’s his fault she’s outside in the freezing cold with wet hair and not getting her paper done. He puts his hand up in surrender.

“Hey, I said I was sorry. How about I make it up to you?”

“Make it up to me? How?”

Logan purses his lips and puts a hand under his chin, tapping it thoughtfully. Veronica’s glare defrosts a little and while he’s thinking, she turns away to watch the firemen go inside to inspect the building. 

“I could… be your slave for the day.”

He pairs the statement with a wink and then an eyebrow wiggle that would make Veronica forget her annoyance if she weren’t so damn tired with another full day still ahead of her.

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that. Once my paper’s done, I won’t need anything but 10 hours of sleep.”

The firemen come back out of the building and talk to Jeff the RF. Jeff makes the all clear sign and starts herding students back inside.

“I’m sure I can think of something else to make it up to you.”

Veronica sees Cammi give Veronica a cheeky smile and a thumbs up over Logan’s shoulder.

“I’m sure you can try.”

That sharp challenging smile is back on his face and Veronica knows she’ll look forward to him trying to live up to that challenge when she’s had enough sleep and can bring herself to really care.

“While this has been fun, I really do have to get back to my paper. Later.”

Logan gives her a jaunty wave as Veronica slips back into her room, sighing loudly and fighting against the exhaustion weighing down her shoulders.

“Ok, Veronica. You can do it.

* * *

 

Later, when her paper is turned in and her last class has finished, Veronica happily heads back to the dorm where her bed has been beckoning to her all day. On her door is a folded piece of paper, just under the sign that has her name. 

‘READ ME’, it says.

Unfolding it, Veronica can see that it’s a print out of the instructions for making popcorn from the Orville Redenbacher website. Number 4 is bolded and underlined. 

1\. Remove plastic overwrap. Unfold popcorn bag.

2\. Place in center of microwave, with the correct side up as indicated on bag.

3\. Set power on HIGH for 4 minutes.

4. **DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED WHILE POPPING. STAY AND LISTEN. POPPING** **TIMES VARY FROM 2 TO 4 MINUTES (1 to 2 minutes for Mini Bags).**

5\. For best results, stop microwave when popping slows to 2 to 3 seconds between pops. Overcooking may cause scorching.

6\. Bag is HOT! Remove bag from microwave, and carefully pull on top diagonal corners.

7\. AVOID CONTACT WITH ESCAPING STEAM.

Extra writing on the bottom of the paper catches her attention. 

**8.** **Ask out the cute blonde pixie in knee socks from the first floor.**

**Now that I’ve learned my lesson (see number 4) how about I make it up to you by taking you** **out to dinner and a movie tomorrow night? (I’ll even let the professionals at the theater handle the popcorn making) -Logan.**

Veronica grabs a pen from her bag and scribbles out a reply before going up to his room and stuffing it under the doorway.

**9\. Let the blonde pixie choose the movie and she might even wear the knee socks.**

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact. The whole "I left the popcorn in the microwave too long and it caught on fire so I set off the fire alarm" thing actually happened. It was my freshman year and it was by a guy in my dorm who thought he set it for 2 minutes and walked away. Except it was more like 3 pm, not 3 am. But still.


End file.
